Evolution and dynamics of pancreatic cancer progression

Efficient metastasis is believed as the result of multiple genetic, epigenetic and/or post-translational events in the lifetime of a carcinoma. At the genetic level, these events may be categorized into those that occur during carcinogenesis, and those that occur during subclonal evolution. This review summarizes current knowledge of the genetics of pancreatic cancer from its initiation within a normal cell until the time that is has disseminated to distant organs, many features of which can be extrapolated to other solid tumor types. The implications of these findings to personalize genome analyses of an individual patient’s tumor are also discussed.